JUAN ALAVEZ INSECTOS at CeMA

August 17, 2007 — dsart

When I received the invitation for this show, with its large picture of a grasshopper with a funny face, I thought it might be simply an amusing diversion. The show is something else though, among other things it shows a difference in culture.
Juan Alavez does seem to be obsessed with insects, particularly grasshoppers. The pieces consist solely of their representation. But he hasn’t simply drawn them, in many cases he has made sculptural constructions and applied them over the canvas. In mostly reds and browns, they protrude from the canvas; they cover a few pillars he has placed in the center of the room. They dominate the small gallery.
On this side of the Rio Grande, we consider grasshoppers to be a nuisance and we are aware they can be extremely destructive. Alavez is from Oaxaca, where he studied art at the Rufino Tamayo
Academy of Arts. In Oaxaca, grasshoppers have long held symbolic meaning. They are eaten and also have a mystical symbolism. From pre-hispanic drawings one finds religious paintings of the grasshopper. It is this symbolism, this long history to which Alavez wants to pay homage. This he does quite well, and it points up the interesting cultural differences from which we draw upon to create art. -David Sokolec
ALAVEZ INSECTOS. Centro Municipal de las Arte. Juarez